The invention is generally directed to toner and developer compositions, and more specifically, the present invention is directed to developer and toner compositions containing certain polyester additives, which function primarily as charge enhancing additives, and which can impart or assist in imparting a negative charge to the toner resin particles and enable toners with rapid admix characteristics. In embodiments, there are provided in accordance with the present invention toner compositions comprised of resin particles, especially polyester resins like SPAR.TM., pigment particles, and a polyester with amine functionality in a polyester backbone. In embodiments, the present invention is directed to toners with charge additives of a component comprised of an amine functionally in a polyester backbone. The aforementioned component in embodiments of the present invention enable, for example, toners with a stable negative charge, rapid admix of less than about one minute, extended developer life, stable electrical properties, high image print quality with substantially no background deposits, and resistance to relative humidity. Also, the aforementioned toner compositions contain pigment particles comprised of, for example, carbon black, magnetites, or mixtures thereof, cyan, magenta, yellow, blue, green, red, or brown components, or mixtures thereof thereby providing for the development and generation of black and/or colored images. The toner compositions of the present invention in embodiments thereof possess excellent admix characteristics as indicated herein, and maintain their triboelectric charging characteristics for an extended number of imaging cycles exceeding, for example, 1,000,000 in a number of embodiments. The toner and developer compositions of the present invention can be selected for electrophotographic, especially xerographic, imaging and printing processes, including color processes.
Toners with polyester resins are known, reference for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,000, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference. These and a number of other polyesters can be disadvantageous in that they do not effectively charge negatively at various humidity values, and their charge is sensitive to humidity to the extent that it can be reduced and adversely effect development. These and other disadvantages are avoided, or minimized with the invention of the present application in embodiments.
Developer compositions with charge enhancing additives, which impart a positive charge to the toner resin, including polyester resin, are known. Thus, for example, there is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,935 the use of quaternary ammonium salts as charge control agents for electrostatic toner compositions. In this patent, there are disclosed quaternary ammonium compounds with four R substituents on the nitrogen atom, which substituents represent an aliphatic hydrocarbon group having 7 or less, and preferably about 3 to about 7 carbon atoms, including straight and branch chain aliphatic hydrocarbon atoms, and wherein X represents an anionic function including, according to this patent, a variety of conventional anionic moieties such as halides, phosphates, acetates, nitrates, benzoates, methylsulfates, perchloride, tetrafluoroborate, benzene sulfonate, and the like. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,856 there are disclosed electrophotographic toners containing resin compatible quaternary ammonium compounds in which at least two R radicals are hydrocarbons having from 8 to about 22 carbon atoms, and each other R is a hydrogen or hydrocarbon radical with from 1 to about 8 carbon atoms, and A is an anion, for example, sulfate, sulfonate, nitrate, borate, chlorate, and halogen, such as iodide, chloride and bromide, reference the Abstract of the Disclosure and column 3; a similar teaching is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,933 which is a division of U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,111; and similar teachings are presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,112 wherein A is an anion including, for example, sulfate, sulfonate, nitrate, borate, chlorate, and the halogens. There are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,986,521 reversal developer compositions comprised of toner resin particles coated with finely divided colloidal silica. According to the disclosure of this patent, the development of electrostatic latent images on negatively charged surfaces is accomplished by applying a developer composition having a positively charged triboelectric relationship with respect to the colloidal silica.
Also, there is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,390, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, developer compositions containing as charge enhancing additives organic sulfate and sulfonates, which additives can impart a positive charge to the toner composition. Further, there is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,672, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, positively charged toner compositions with resin particles and pigment particles, and as charge enhancing additives alkyl pyridinium compounds. Additionally, other patents disclosing positively charged toner compositions with charge control additives include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,944,493; 4,007,293; 4,079,014; 4,394,430, and 4,560,635, which illustrates a toner with a distearyl dimethyl ammonium methyl sulfate charge additive.
The following United States patents were recited in a patentability search in the toner subject matter area: U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,381, which discloses toners and developers containing charge control agents comprising quaternary ammonium salts of the formula indicated, for example, in the Abstract of the Disclosure, wherein R is alkyl with from 12 to 18 carbon atoms, and the anion is a trifluoromethylsulfonate; also note, for example, the information presented in column 2 and beginning with column 3 of this patent; a similar teaching is presented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,834,921 and 4,490,455, which discloses toners with, for example, amine salt charge enhancing additives, reference the Abstract of the Disclosure, for example, and wherein A is an anion including those derived from aromatic substituted sulfonic acids, such as benzene sulfonic acid, and the like, see column 3, beginning at line 33; U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,856 directed to toners with a quaternary ammonium compound wherein A is an anion such as sulfate, sulfonate, nitrate, borate, chlorate, and certain halogens, see the Abstract of the Disclosure; U.S. Pat. Re. No. 32,883 (a reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,390) which illustrates toners with sulfate and sulfonate charge additives, see the Abstract of the Disclosure, wherein R.sub.4 is an alkylene, and the anion contains a R.sub.5 which is a tolyl group, or an alkyl group of from 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and n is the number 3 or 4; U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,634, which discloses toners with charge additives of the formulas presented in column 3, providing that at least one of the R's is a long chain amido group, and X is a halide ion or an organo sulfur containing group; U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,019 relating to toners with long chain hydrazinium compounds, wherein the anion A can be a sulfate, sulfonate, phosphate, halide, or nitrate, see the Abstract of the Disclosure for example; U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,550, which illustrates toners with inner salt charge additives, or mixtures of charge additives, see for example column 8; U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,596, which discloses toners with charge additives of the formula provided in column 3 wherein X can be variety of anions such as trifluoromethane sulfonate; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,604,338; 4,792,513; 3,893,935; 4,826,749, and 4,604,338. The disclosures of each of the aforementioned patents are totally incorporated herein by reference.
Moreover, toner compositions with negative charge enhancing additives are known, reference for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,411,974 and 4,206,064, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference. The '974 patent discloses negatively charged toner compositions comprised of resin particles, pigment particles, and as a charge enhancing additive ortho-halo phenyl carboxylic acids. Similarly, there are disclosed in the '064 patent toner compositions with chromium, cobalt, and nickel complexes of salicylic acid as negative charge enhancing additives. Also, toners with aluminum complex negative charge additives are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,003.
There is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,404,271 a method for developing electrostatic images with a toner which contains a metal complex represented by the formula in column 2, for example, and wherein ME can be chromium, cobalt or iron. Patents disclosing various metal containing azo dyestuff structures wherein the metal is chromium or cobalt include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,891,939; 2,871,233; 2,891,938; 2,933,489; 4,053,462 and 4,314,937. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,040, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, there are illustrated toner compositions with chromium and cobalt complexes of azo dyes as negative charge enhancing additives.
Additionally, toners with charge additives are illustrated in a number of copending applications and patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,900 wherein there are illustrated toner compositions comprised of polymer resins, colorants comprised of color pigment particles or dye molecules, and certain metal complex charge additives derived from the reaction of a mixture of a hydroxybenzoic acid and a base with a metal ion in the presence of an excess of a hydroxyphenol. More specifically, this copending application illustrates a negatively charged toner composition comprised of polymer, colorant, optional surface additives, and a metal complex charge enhancing additive of the following formula ##STR1## where M is a metal; N+ is a cation; R and R' are alkyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, halogen, carbonyl, amino, nitro, or mixtures thereof; m and n are the number of R substituents ranging from 0 to 3; y- is the magnitude of the negative charge of the anion; and y' represents the number of cations.
Illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,387 is a negatively charged toner composition comprised of a polymer or polymers, pigment, and a metal complex charge enhancing additive as essentially represented by the following formula ##STR2## where M is the central metal ion; N+ is the countercation; R and R' are selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, halogen, carbonyl group, alkoxycarbonyl group, amino group, nitro group or mixtures thereof; m and n are the number of R substituents on the aromatic rings, ranging from 0 to 3; y- is the magnitude of the negative charge of the anion or the number of the countercations of the metal complex, and represents the number 1 or 2; and y' represents the number of countercations N+; U.S. Ser. No. 964,544 (D/92402) discloses a toner composition comprised of a polymer or polymers, pigment particles and/or dyes, optional surface additives, and a charge enhancing additive of the following formula ##STR3## wherein R is hydrogen, alkyl, or aryl; R' and R" are selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, and aryloxy; R"' is selected from the group consisting of alkyl, alkoxy, oxide, and halide; M is boron or a metal; x is a number of from 1 to 4; and y is a number of from 0 to 2; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,651 discloses a negatively charged toner composition comprised of polymer, pigment, optional surface additives, and a zinc complex charge enhancing additive represented by either of the two following formulas ##STR4## wherein R, R', R", and R"' are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, aryl alkoxy, aryloxy, halogen, amino, and hydroxy. The disclosures of each of the aforementioned copending applications are totally incorporated herein by reference.
Illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,381, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated herein by reference, is a negatively charged toner composition comprised of resin particles, pigment particles, and an aluminum salt of thiophenecarboxylic acid charge enhancing additive; and a negatively charged toner composition comprised of resin, pigment, and an aluminum salt charge enhancing additive of the following formula ##STR5##